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Naval Academy midshipman teaches Boulder County students about life in Annapolis

Niwot High grad gave presentations at four schools this week

By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
11/27/2012 08:30:42 PM MST

Updated:
11/27/2012 08:31:39 PM MST

Victor Nguyen, a Navy midshipman and graduate of Niwot High School, talks to Alexander Dawson School students in Lafayette on Tuesday.
(
MARK LEFFINGWELL
)

LAFAYETTE -- Victor Nguyen derived inspiration to serve in the U.S. military from a man who never did.

His grandfather, a colonel in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam war, represents to the Niwot High School graduate someone who served his country with honor.

Nguyen, a 20-year-old first-generation American, is now doing the same as a midshipman at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where he majors in systems engineering and minors in Chinese.

The Longmont native was in Boulder County this week, speaking to students at four schools -- Longmont High, Boulder High, Niwot High and Alexander Dawson School in Lafayette -- about the challenges and opportunities of life at the elite academy.

At Dawson on Tuesday, Nguyen addressed a group of four students in the private school's library, telling them what it's like to train to be a helicopter pilot. The demands of the job perfectly complement his personality and energy level, which rarely dips below deeply engaged and fully active.

"I can rarely sit down for even a half hour without doing something," he said. "Being a naval aviator will give me the opportunity to fly a lot and fly all the time."

In addition to the rigorous course work that takes up most of his time -- he spent six weeks in China learning Mandarin -- Nguyen said he also gets to involve himself in non-military and non-academic pursuits. He's part of the campus ministry, and he sings in the glee club.

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"I'm in the men's glee club at the academy, which is not like the TV show at all," he said.

Nguyen, a junior at the academy, said he turned down a NROTC scholarship at Cornell University in order to attend the Naval Academy. He is required to serve at least five years with the Navy after he graduates in 2014.

"I like the focused attention that professors give you there," he said.

He also said he wanted to be in an environment that would foster his strong Christian faith while giving him the chance to repay the country that so helped his parents -- both Vietnamese refugees -- make a life for themselves here.

"I definitely wanted to give something back to this nation for the freedoms and opportunities my parents wouldn't have gotten if they never got to come here," Nguyen said.

Alex Aleu, a sophomore at Dawson, said Nguyen's presentation shed important light on plans for his own future, which he said will likely include service with the Coast Guard or the Navy.

"I'm torn about which branch of the military to join," said Aleu, whose father served in the Spanish Navy. "I'm trying to find the right path for me."

Aleu, 15, said it was useful having an actual student from the academy give a presentation about life there.

"I think it's really nice you can get a midshipman to come out here who can answer questions," he said.

Don Price, a Blue and Gold Officer and a 1973 alumnus of the academy who lives in Boulder, helped arrange Nguyen's visit to the four schools. He said the groups Nguyen addressed this week were small but select.

And the value of having somebody from the same peer group and in the military address career issues in an understandable and relatable way is incalculable, he said.

"Kids, not surprisingly, want to talk to a midshipman rather than a 60-year-old graduate," Price said. "It's all these anecdotal stories that speak to the imagination and allows them to think the academy is something they can do."

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